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Sili-Hudson Valley?
guttentag writes "The New York Times reports Sematech (the international consortium of computer chip makers that turned Austin, TX into a tech center) plans to turn Albany, NY into a research hub. The consortium, which represents IBM, Intel, Motorola, HP, TI, AMD, Philips and others, will put up $193 million for the project while New York State will supply the remaining $210 million. The really unusual thing about the deal is that the state isn't offering any tax breaks or loans to lure the consortium to its capital. Why are they so excited about a location that is over 100 miles from their nearest constituent company (IBM)?"
Definitely great news for the area. Definitely have the infrastructure in place between RPI and SUNY Albany. However there's one element that's missing that Pataki and Jerry Jennings (Albany's mayor) are going to have to pay attention to in order for things to take off. And that's the quality of life for those 20 to young 30-somethings that said tech companies are going to want to siphon of as they graduate. Albany's great for people raising a family, but they're missing the culture/leisure opportunities of larger cities. See Salon for a similar take : Be Creative or Die
for what? management?
RPI is consitantly ranked overall in the 40's for all programs offered in the US. its usually ranked in the top 3-5 engineering programs among practing engineers (not princton review which includes things like endowments, bet you didnt know that MIT is pass/fail first year)
if you want cs, goto CMU, but if you want engineering RPI is one of the top
Well, everyone knows that the world ends once you go north of the Bronx...
You have to remember that NYC has 8 million people in it, and Long Island has about 850,000. The population density is so much less outside of NYC that most people from the city aren't even aware of what's outside it.
I grew up on western Long Island, and upstate NY was simply not a part of my consciousness. 'Upstate' was anything north of White Plains. We used to make fun of people in college that were from there (Hah! You live in the middle of nowhere!). Now that I'm working and living there (Poughkeepsie), the joke's on me.
Considering how depressed the upstate economy is (and Albany IS upstate), this will be greatly appreciated by anyone that lives there. Even though NYC is still growing population-wise, many other parts of NYS are shrinking. Granted, many of the counties just north of NYC are booming, but that's because the cost of living threre is somewhat less than NYC/LI. (Why else would a 2-bedroom 1-floor house go for $275,000?)
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
- Evelyn Beatrice Hall
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAA...
The Illuminati is a ruse for the Pentavirate Cabal... or maybe it's the other way around...
The Freemasons do have a good hold on the upstate NY area tho... George Washington (aka. Adam Weischupt) spread his "seed" far and wide in his day...
--==[ AOL YIM ICQ : Levendis47 : levendis47@yahoo.com ]==--
As a former upstate NYer, I can comment on a couple things to think about before jumping all over this:
:-) Seriously though, because you have to drive furhter to services, places, etc, and the weather affects traffic much more than in more temperate areas, you can spend more time on the road that you'd think.
- State income tax is very high (similar to CA, but higher)
- Property tax can be 5% or higher, depending on the county. That's generally 5 times higher than in CA and other areas of the country, and 2-3x in many other states.
Think about it...get a 200K house, (175K mortgage). Your monthly payment at 6% would be a little over $1,000 a month. But your monthly prop tax burden would be a little over $800; $1800 a month. So that "cheap housing" starts getting expensive. (but yes, cheaper that many other areas, and yes, I know you can rent.)
- Property doesn't appreciate much; it's not like CA where is will always go up (every 10 years, there's a spike). You have to think investment (unless you just plan to rent forever)
- The other fun thing is that every mortgage (and refinance) is subject to a 1% "tax" by the state to fund "real estate oversight", aka slush fund. This money is NOT tax deductible. So every time you move or refi, be prepared to cough up a couple grand with no benefit to you.
- Jobs and stability? During the "boom times" you couldn't tell it up there at all. I can't see it being better now.
- Can't have any traffic when there are driving bans because of snowfall.
Just a couple of thoughts to ponder.
-BB
SUNY Albany doesn't even have an engineering college--- or even an engineering department!
Back in the mid '80s, SUNY Albany planned to start a school of engineering. When RPI got wind of it, they flexed their political muscle and derailed the effort. Why? Because if you could get a decent engineering degree with yearly tuition of $2000 (circa 1985), why would you go to RPI to pay $10000 per year?
There is no problem in the South. The South is growing at a rapid clip which is evidenced by new home sales, increased traffic, and an increasing number of jobs of varied skill levels. The economy there certainly does not 'suck' any more than other regions of the country during a recession. It is time to stop using the South as a punching bag and start acknowledging what has actually transpired there in the past 15 years as far as progress is concerned.